Reimagining McCormick: The Look of the Future
06-07-2021
For most of you who read our newsletter, my guess is that when someone says “McCormick,” you have a reasonably well-defined sense of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. After all, a seminary is, well, a seminary. How much could it possibly change? (Spoiler alert: the answer is: A lot.)
In times of change and transition, which is pretty much all the time for many of us, we often feel Isaiah tugging on our sleeve to remind us: Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? (Isaiah 43:18-19 CEB.) While many of us like to speak of the “new thing,” fewer of us are really ready to recognize it, let alone embrace it.
It seems part of our nature that we tend to recall the past in a far more favorable light than it may deserve. About ten years ago, Dr. Art Markman, then the executive editor of Cognitive Science and professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas in Austin, explained that phenomenon this way:
Quite a bit of research suggests that we tend to think about the distant past more abstractly than we think about the present. Lots of the specific things that are happening right now involve the petty annoyances that you have to deal with to navigate daily life. There are bills to be paid, stacks of laundry to be done, tests to be taken and errands to run. When you think about the past, those petty annoyances don't come up. So, all you think about are the great times you had.
In addition, when you look back on past events, you know how they turned out. Uncertainty is stressful. The present often feels less pleasant than the past, because we're still waiting to find out how the various education and business ventures that are part of our life now are going to work out.
It is worth keeping in mind that the past was never as stress-free as it seems when looking back on it. And the present is often better than it may feel as you are going through it.
At McCormick we used our pandemic time to “Look!” as Isaiah calls us to do. In a thoughtful, thorough series of conversations and interviews with literally dozens of our community members, students, alums, staff, faculty, trustees, and donors, we initiated a process of “reimagining” McCormick. Merriam Webster defines “reimagining” this way: to imagine anew; to form a new conception of. This process of re-imagination was brilliantly organized and led by McCormick’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Richard Mayo.
It has been more than 15 years since we last undertook a hard look at our mission and vision statements and our Constitution and Bylaws; and at least that long since we took a hard look at our now familiar “teal” green McCormick logo. In addition, an upgrade of our website has been long overdue. While work on our mission statement and governing documents will be a major focus of our board in the months ahead, we want to share with you some of what we’ve learned on this journey along with a look at our new website and logo.
As we move forward into this transition from pandemic to what’s next, we invite you to reimagine with us. Let us know what you think.
Peace and Grace,
David H. Crawford
President McCormick Theological Seminary
Expanding on an ancient symbol of the spiritual journey, McCormick’s new logo recognizes and honors the many ways individuals respond to God’s invitation to shape a world centered on justice, mercy and humility.